Category: Amazon Music
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Music Album Review: ‘Casablanca – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’
Casablanca – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Labels: Turner Classic Movies Music/Rhino (1997);Sony Music (Reissue) Year of Release: 1997 (Original), 2010 (Sony Music reissue) Genre: Film Score/Standards/Spoken Word 🎶 Casablanca Soundtrack: Memory, Melody, and the Music of Longing Of all the soundtrack albums I’ve collected over the years, none is quite as haunting—or as structurally unusual—as…
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Music Album Review: ‘Tchaikovsky:1812’
Tchaikovsky: 1812 – Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal, Charles Dutoit – 1812 Overture • Capriccio Italien • The Nutcracker Suite • Marche Slave Genre: Classical (Romantic Era), Orchestral Compositions Label(s): London/Decca Year of Release: 1986 🎼 Tchaikovsky for the TikTok Era: A People’s Composer Revisited In an age where musical tastes are splintered across streaming platforms…
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Sunday Serenade: Songs and Compositions I Enjoy
Midday/Early Afternoon, Sunday, January 5, 2025, Miami, Florida Hi, everyone. Well, while I am feeling a bit better today, I’m still under the weather. So, instead of the usual narrative blog post or occasional review, here’s a selection of music from YouTube for this first Sunday of 2025! Enjoy!
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Music Album Review: ‘Kiri Sings Gershwin’: A Swinging Tribute to Timeless Classics
Kiri Sings Gershwin (1990) Label: EMI Records Genre: Standards/Crossovers Artists: Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano), John McGlinn (conductor), New Princess Orchestra Release Date: October 25, 1990 Regular readers of this blog won’t be surprised. Still, I seem to follow the beat of a different drummer because I prefer older musical styles to contemporary ones, especially when…
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Music Album Review: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Shines in Kiri Sings Kern
Kiri Sings Kern (1993) Label: Angel/EMI Records Genre: Crossover/Standards Artists: Kiri Te Kanawa (Soprano), London Sinfonietta (Orchestra), Jonathan Tunick (Conductor/Arranger) Release Date: March 16, 1993 Jerome Kern (1885-1945) remains one of the most influential composers in American popular music. Alongside legends like Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, the New York-born Kern…
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Coping with a Cold: My Saturday Struggles
Late Morning, Saturday, December 7, 2024, Miami, Florida As I mentioned yesterday, I’m battling a bothersome cold. While I don’t have the more severe symptoms—like a runny nose—I am plagued by an incessant headache and an occasional urge to cough. Thankfully, there’s no fever, but the headache is hampering my focus. Consequently, my productivity took…
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Tuesday Tunes!
Midafternoon, Tuesday, November 12, 2024, Miami, Florida Hi, there, Constant Readers. Apologies for the tardy post today. I was entangled in personal matters this morning, which consumed nearly four hours of meticulous attention. Feeling weary and wildly off schedule, I’ve decided to take the remainder of the day to recharge and escape my myriad worries.…
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Weekend Update, Part the First…and the State of the Novel
On October 6, 2024, the author reflects on their writing journey for “Reunion: Coda” amid stress from an upcoming move to Miami and online banking issues. Despite having completed 19 chapters, the dream of a holiday release seems dim. The weekend was spent relaxing and engaging in leisure activities while contemplating the future.
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A Late Week Musicfest (Inspired by a Facebook Exchange with Frank)
On a Thursday afternoon, my friend Frank and I discussed Taylor Swift’s music on Facebook. I respect her talents and support for Kamala Harris, but her music isn’t my thing. I prefer older pop/rock, jazz, Broadway, classical, folk and country, and even international tracks like “La vie en rose” by Edith Piaf.
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Narrative Threads: A Conversation on Crafting the Reunion Duology, Part the Fourteenth
Music and Emotion: Maddie is a concert pianist for the New York Philharmonic. How did you use music to enhance the emotional depth of the story? Are there specific pieces of music that played a significant role in the narrative? Music is a huge deal in the Reunion Duology, and it shapes the story in…
A Certain Point of View, Too 